BROCKVILLE, ONT. -- A reopening into the 'Green' zone for the Brockville region was hampered by a blast of white on Tuesday.
A section of eastbound Highway 401 was closed for hours Tuesday morning, as crews pulled vehicles and a tractor-trailer out of the centre median west of Brockville as a winter storm rolled across the region.
A detour was in place from Mallorytown to Long Beach for approximately three hours, reopening just after 12:30 p.m.
In Brockville, 15-20 centimetres of snow blanketed much of the area, which had many residents out shovelling and snow blowing.
"It keeps you busy," said Wayne Hamelin along Vanier Drive. "I like the winters. My wife likes to go south. She thinks I'm crazy."
Up the street, Melvin Keating was busy snow blowing his neighbour's driveway.
"She's a lady of 81, she lives by herself and she depends on me helping her out once in a while," Keating said, recommending a snow blower as the way to go.
"It would be time to get one and save your back, especially when you get older," Keating said.
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark officially entered the green protect zone on Tuesday, allowing businesses to reopen, but some downtown Brockville businesses stayed closed due to the wintry blast, while city crews kept busy clearing snow-covered streets.
"The weather is not helping but I have faith that there will be people shopping," said Amund Christensen of Golden Age Comics. "It's been a long wait for them too."
Christensen did reopen his store on Tuesday, and said offering curbside pickup during the lockdown had its ups and downs.
"People are much happier to come for curbside pickup when it's 17 degrees as opposed to minus 17," Christensen said. "It's a bit of an ask to have people standing outside in the freezing cold."
In November and December, his store was doing great, with sales into record territory.
"And we locked down again, so I'm hoping once we get rolling again it'll be back to business as normal," he added.
Sports cards, Pokémon, comics, Dungeons and Dragons and records have been great sellers during the pandemic, as customers looked for hobbies they can do in the comfort of their home.
Christensen said he looks forward to seeing people face to face again.
"Our comic guys in particular like to be here on a Wednesday or a Thursday to get their pickups for the week," he said, adding the shop local movement was vital to keeping his store afloat over the past year.
"We've had so many questions about 'Can I get it from you rather than Amazon?'" he said. "I have several customers who have gone above and beyond and they are going to be directly responsible for keeping some of the downtown businesses in business."
